President Donald Trump has given the British Broadcasting Corporation a final deadline to retract what his legal team calls a “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory” broadcast—or face a $1 billion lawsuit. The warning came after evidence surfaced that the BBC aired a fabricated version of one of Trump’s speeches in a documentary seen by millions.

Trump’s lawyers demanded a “full and fair retraction,” a public apology, and financial compensation by the end of the week. If the BBC fails to meet the Friday evening deadline, they said, the president will move forward with legal action seeking no less than $1 billion in damages.

“The BBC is on notice,” Trump’s legal team wrote in a letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph.

The controversy centers on an internal BBC document that revealed senior executives knew of serious ethical problems with the network’s coverage of Trump but did little to correct them. The report, leaked earlier this week, outlined how a Panorama documentary edited and broadcast a doctored version of Trump’s remarks from January 6th, altering his message to make it appear that he urged supporters to “fight” and march on the U.S. Capitol.

In the letter sent to the BBC, Trump’s attorneys called the decision to air the edited footage “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory.” They demanded the network immediately retract the program and issue an apology for misleading its audience.

According to the letter, the altered speech has caused “President Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.” The statement further accused the BBC of showing “reckless disregard for the truth,” describing the network’s conduct as “actual malice.”

The letter gives the BBC until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday to comply. If not, Trump’s lawyers said they will file a lawsuit for damages “no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars).”

The situation escalated after a leaked internal memo confirmed that BBC producers knowingly spliced together separate clips of Trump’s speech to change its meaning. The edit gave the impression that Trump had directly incited violence, when in fact, the original footage showed him calling on supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically.”

The fallout has already reached the highest levels of the BBC. Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness resigned overnight following the revelations. Insiders in the UK media have described the situation as a full-blown crisis for the network.

British journalists say the scandal could be the biggest credibility crisis for the BBC in decades. The broadcaster has long faced accusations of bias against conservative leaders both in the UK and abroad, but the apparent manipulation of a sitting U.S. president’s words could carry enormous legal and political consequences.

For Trump, the case represents another battle in his ongoing war against what he calls “fake news.” He has repeatedly accused major networks of distorting his message and spreading falsehoods to damage his reputation and undermine his presidency.

Trump’s Truth Social post earlier this week made clear he has no intention of letting the matter go. In it, he said the BBC “crossed a line no journalist should ever cross” and that his team would “seek justice and full accountability.”

Legal experts in the UK say the potential case could be historic in scale. The BBC, as a taxpayer-funded institution, may face both financial penalties and public scrutiny if found liable for defamation on such a scale.

As the deadline approaches, the BBC has not issued a formal public response. Media outlets across Europe have been following the story closely, aware that Trump’s lawsuit could send shockwaves through the international press.

With just days left to respond, the network now faces a choice—admit wrongdoing and apologize, or brace for what could be one of the largest defamation suits ever filed by a world leader.